Boeing Targeted In Antiwar Protest
Boeing Corp. Among Nation's Largest Military Contractors
POSTED: 11:47 a.m. CST March 13, 2003
UPDATED: 12:21 p.m. CST March 13, 2003
CHICAGO -- 
As protests against the war continue, a group of about 20 people disrupted business at the downtown headquarters of the Boeing Corp. Thursday morning.
Some of the group "locked" themselves together in an effort to protest a possible war with Iraq.
NBC5's Charlie Wojciechowski, who was at the Thursday morning event, said protesters say we can expect to see more of this kind of civil disobedience as the nation moves closer to a war with Iraq.
This time, Wojciechowski said, the target was Boeing, one of the nation's largest military contractors and one of Chicago's newest corporate citizens.
The protest started around 7:40 a.m. at Boeing headquarters, 100 N. Riverside Plaza, with nine members of Voices of the Wilderness seated in a circle in the building's lobby, bound together with painted PVC piping.
"Economic sanctions themselves have become a weapon of mass destruction, killing more than 500,000 Iraqi children," a group gathered outside read from a statement.
Holding an antiwar banner, the group chanted their disapproval of Boeing's involvement in military manufacturing.
"I'm here to say 'no' to the war and to make sure people realize that Boeing plays a part," protester Mike Machowski told NBC5.
The demonstration remained peaceful, Wojciechowski said, but shortly after 10 a.m., police called an end to it, using a concrete saw to cut protesters apart and take them to waiting squad wagons.
"It's called a lockdown," said spokesman Tom Hone. "They lockdown in 'the circle of life' ... promoting life instead of death and destruction."
"Chicago passed a resolution against the war, so we believe they should not be subsudising a company like Boeing," shouted protester Laurel Severns as she was loaded into a police vehicle.
It is a focus on Iraqi children that brought many of the protesters out today, Wojciechowski said.
"It's estimated that most Iraqi civilians are relying on U.N. food rations and if those rations were disrupted, even for a couple of days, then there could be a severe famine in Iraq," one demonstrator said.
Several protesters at Boeing told NBC5 that they were not gathered in support of Saddam Hussein, but rather against U.S. policy.
As protests against the war continue, a group of about 20 people disrupted business at the downtown headquarters of the Boeing Corp. Thursday morning.
Some of the group "locked" themselves together in an effort to protest a possible war with Iraq.
NBC5's Charlie Wojciechowski, who was at the Thursday morning event, said protesters say we can expect to see more of this kind of civil disobedience as the nation moves closer to a war with Iraq.
This time, Wojciechowski said, the target was Boeing, one of the nation's largest military contractors and one of Chicago's newest corporate citizens.
The protest started around 7:40 a.m. at Boeing headquarters, 100 N. Riverside Plaza, with nine members of Voices of the Wilderness seated in a circle in the building's lobby, bound together with painted PVC piping.
"Economic sanctions themselves have become a weapon of mass destruction, killing more than 500,000 Iraqi children," a group gathered outside read from a statement.
Holding an antiwar banner, the group chanted their disapproval of Boeing's involvement in military manufacturing.
"I'm here to say 'no' to the war and to make sure people realize that Boeing plays a part," protester Mike Machowski told NBC5.
The demonstration remained peaceful, Wojciechowski said, but shortly after 10 a.m., police called an end to it, using a concrete saw to cut protesters apart and take them to waiting squad wagons.
"It's called a lockdown," said spokesman Tom Hone. "They lockdown in 'the circle of life' ... promoting life instead of death and destruction."
"Chicago passed a resolution against the war, so we believe they should not be subsudising a company like Boeing," shouted protester Laurel Severns as she was loaded into a police vehicle.
It is a focus on Iraqi children that brought many of the protesters out today, Wojciechowski said.
"It's estimated that most Iraqi civilians are relying on U.N. food rations and if those rations were disrupted, even for a couple of days, then there could be a severe famine in Iraq," one demonstrator said.
Several protesters at Boeing told NBC5 that they were not gathered in support of Saddam Hussein, but rather against U.S. policy.
Copyright 2003 by NBC5.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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